Summary: Freedom of expression and right to information is supposedly guaranteed in the Palestinian law, but it however contains gaps and loose wording which de facto limit journalists’ rights. Next to that, since the media is dominated by male journalists, there is talk of underrepresentation of women in the media. The main goals of this project are to empower Palestinian women by increasing their skills qualification and knowledge in presenting themselves in the media and to improve radio journalism in program productions as well

The project’s Description:

The Media Development Center/ Birzeit University has conducted the eleven months project, “Women Speaking”, funded by the Heinrich Böll Foundation,, its overall goal has been to improve and empower women participation in the Media in West Bank.

The objectives are:

Improving and professionalizing writing skills of Palestinian Female journalists, Women Activists and Women who have been elected as municipalities’ members, and empowering them by increasing their skills qualification and knowledge in how to present themselves in media.

Enhancing radio journalism by improving the quality of radio and TV presentation skills for female journalists, women activists, and women who have been elected as municipalities’ members.

Ongoing development and support of the local radio stations in the matters that concern the community as family and gender issues.

So that the change to be generated by this project regarding target groups and beneficiaries’ situation (skills, qualifications, knowledge) and stance toward the society (awareness, understanding, open-mind on new issues) could be summarized as follows:

1- Female Journalists, activists and members of local councils: enhanced knowledge and skills on:

Article writing

Dealing with media.

Conducting interviews.

2- Radio Stations: increased Capacity on:

High quality radio programs’ production

Staff with new qualification able to showcase through production

First, Training Phase:

Nineteen workingwomen were chosen from gender units in ministries and non-governmental institutions, municipalities and various local councils, in addition to women who have to communicate with media, and those who would like to enter this training to develop their capabilities in media.

The “writing articles” course conducted by trainer Muhannad Abdul Hamid, throughout thirty training hours, took place between 2nd-7th of March 2013,the course main goals were:

Elements of writing

Language and expression

Article as a journalist style.

Internal construction of journalistic article

Professional foundations and rules.

The “Training for Palestinian spokespersons” course conducted by trainer Elias Zananiri, throughout sixty training hours, took place between16th of March 2013 till 4th of April 2013, the course main goals were: spokeswomen tasks

Means of print, audio-visual and electronic media

Practical exercises on the radio sentence structure

Practical exercises on televised statement

Training/ written meeting

Radio meeting

Televised meeting and Open dialogue

Examples on the produced material:

Three published articles in Al-Hal newspaper on the 95th edition, on April 2013, the publications are:

a) Mariam Abu Turki, in an article entitled (killed several times and buried twice) P. 6

The MDC is still choosing the best articles for publication and two new articles written by the participant “Nihaya Al- Tirawi” will be published in the next issue of Al-Hal newspaper in August 2013

Production of recorded radio training, and another TV one, for the purpose of training on dialogue, and identifying strengths and weaknesses in front of microphone and camera.

Writing a press release and got it published on the group facebook page. (The facebook link to the group is on the MDC web page)

Seconded, the Phase of Production “Cup of Tea” radio program, Part 2:

Throughout the training, a skill that one of the enrolled trainees has, was discovered, which is “writing skills”, so the MDC offered her a suggestion of writing the scenario within the project’s proposed addresses, and gladly she did well, accordingly, the director Aref Hijjawi agreed with Mays Dagher (the trainee) that she can write 24 radio episodes’ scenarios, with him, taking into consideration any necessary amendments.

Mr. Aref Hijjawi has been chosen as the director and supervisor of Cup of Tea program, based on his long experience in program production, specifically radio production, over the course of more than thirty years in international and Arab radio stations and satellite channels, including BBC London, Voice of Palestine, Al-Jazeera channel, he also produced several documentary and investigative films, in addition to his experience in scenario writing.

It’s worth mentioning here that Mr. Hijjawi has been showing high proficiency in directing the first part of the program, which made the production of the second part smoother and more flexible.

Below is a table of the name of episodes with briefing and details “Cup of tea”(part2)

No. of episode

Title

Duration

Brief

1

Postpartum depression

6:37

The episode describes a well-known psychiatric disorder affect women , typically after childbirth, likely caused by the significant changes in a woman's hormones during pregnancy, as 10 to 15 percent of women suffer from this disorder after delivery, symptoms include Hopelessness, sadness, panic attacks, fatigue, low or no energy, changes in sleeping and eating patterns, lack of attention to personal hygiene and appearance, and feeling inadequate in taking care of the baby

2

Females and university specialization

5:04

A large proportion of female university graduates choose to follow conventional career paths, like teaching; that society considers more appropriate for women than any other jobs

3

Sexual abuse of people with developmental disabilities

5:59

One of the most heinous crimes that might this category of people experience. Where it is the responsibility of the family of a mental disabled to provide him needed protection and basic care.

As well as the judicial system that can prevent such crimes by enacting deterrent penalties, plays a key role in deterring such violations. In addition, here comes the duty of society to push toward the development of a firm judicial system.

4

Discrimination between male and female within the family

5:12

Sex and gender discrimination is one of the most racial discrimination forms. Where the majority of victims are females.

In our Palestinian society, that has risen to higher levels in culture, education and general awareness of human rights, we still can find a large proportion of females whom are exposed to discrimination or harassment based on their gender in different areas of their lives, from here, women in our society bear the responsibility for positive social change towards them in this regard.

5

Minimum wages

4:13

The minimum wage in Palestine, approved in late 2012, amounting to approximately 1,500 shekels, is a much lesser extent than the poverty line in Palestine that is approximately 2,300 shekels. What makes this paradox worse, is the extent of price rises, which affects the citizen, and does not recognize the minimum for the hard working underprivileged citizens

6

Religion and gender

6:14

Gender is a policy to achieve justice for women, and social fairness, it is adopted by many, and opposed by many as well. And religion, divine legislations, aims to achieve justice for all human beings. Gender and religion may vary in the diagnosis of the problems of women, and methods to solve them, but they agree that all human beings, female and male, deserve fair treatment and equal opportunities, and equally dignified life

7

Medical treatment in hospitals

6:07

Episode describes the right of every citizen to have a humanitarian medical treatment by medical staff working in the place of treatment. This is not an over requirement from members of the medical staff but it is an integral part of the core of their duties to patients, and ethical behavior should be characterized by all of the workers in humanitarian professions

8

Social occasions and financial over loading

6:22

Facing a lot of Palestinian families, in these economic distress, difficulty of social burden, to keep up with the growing social events, where are the gifts to be provided at every opportunity, weigh the money to the budget of each house, the majority of gifts today, carrying on to suggest materialistic, more than any other meanings

9

Sexual orientation

7:10

Hermaphrodite refers to a person who was born to indefinite sex, where such different body organs and chromosomes different from, what is customary in males and females, so they are not classified as Full males nor full females Medicine intervenes in most cases, to resolve this problem

The episode explains the need to accept this category as they are without excluding them from the community

10

Typical view of the girl , the mother and grandmother

5:34

Society trial of a woman based on her family history as if the woman ancestors were good she and her offspring are good and, vice versa, a social view that needs reflection before judgment

11

House chores and women obligation of them

8:12

Despite of the involvement of Palestinian women in the labor market in all its forms, they have been practiced their home duties obligation, and without the participation of the spouse and here is the need to draw the attention of couples to this situation and encouragement of participation

12

Biology of women and labor rights

7:15

Women go through hormonal and biological condition when they get pregnant, at the early stages of pregnancy they tend to have a short temper and mood swings, they become over sensitive to smells,

This state often makes a strong argument for the manager or a male official they work for to expel them from work without taking into account the human rights of their status

13

Delayed marriage

6:49

Age for marriage of the girls, is under the age of 22, and who missed the opportunity to get married then has missed her chances of getting married, a considerable percentage of people still think these stereotypes is logical, this episode is to clarify the importance of psychological and mental maturity prior to getting married, and this might not be available in early life stages.

14

Preeclampsia

3:43

An illness that affects women after the fifth month of pregnancy, leading to delivering of less blood to the fetus, decreases growth, and increases blood pressure of the mother. In addition to other symptoms described in the episode. For this, it is necessary to check with the pregnant’s doctor immediately before you get serious complications, may amount to aborting the fetus, in order to preserve the mother’s safety

15

Women financial rights

4:48

Episode talks about woman's right to spend the money she earns and decide about it without referring to her husband or parents

16

Integration of children with special needs with healthy children in the educational system

6:31

The positive effects of the policy of integration of children with special needs with normal children, are reflected throughout increased interaction of special needs with their community, and the growth of mutual relations between the two sides, in addition to that this policy creates a good opportunity for normal students to help their peers with special needs

17

Women travelling

6:33

Having acknowledged by Ifta that a woman is to travel alone nowadays, but still the traditions that are not based on the religion make some families in this regard still reject this, which is only to the logic of depriving an adult conscious woman of one of the most important human rights , and their inclusion in this matter with the under aged.

18

Women's violence against women

6:06

In many societies and institutions we find the injustice that is practiced on women is from other women that sometimes exploit their weaknesses and penetrates their privacy, and even gossip about them in women gatherings or meetings

19

How do women appear in the drama

6:53

The image of women presented in drama is very far from the truth in many aspects, including the reality of the status of women in our society, they are presented in most cases, either a women as a beauty queen, who looks very sexy inside and out her home twenty-four hours, as seen in the Turkish drama, or a naive housewife, who is only interested in cooking and gossiping, neutralizing an element of real importance to the dramatic roles, which separates the viewer from the factual reality

20

Adolescents

6:42

Adolescence is a stage of growth follows the stage of childhood, during which body grows at a fast rate, and changes occur physiologically and mentally in a teenager’s life, psychologists believes that its not necessarily for a teenager to pass with all the difficulties and pressures expected to take place in this age, especially if the availability of his family and school life provides him/her appropriate direction and guidance in order to find his/her own way of life

21

Vaginismus

6:15

Is involuntary psychiatric condition of intense fear and anxiety affects the wife before embarking on intimacy, and usually, shows symptoms of this situation in the first night of marriage and then continues, and associated state of chaos and tension with the wife, in many cases, screaming and crying, whenever the spouse tries to approach his wife, it must be emphasized here that the vaginismus happens with the wife as a result of fear and concern, this causes involuntary tightening in the pelvic muscles that surrounds the vaginal area ,while the condition happens among women of our society, it also spread among western women, and the condition is healed between most of the infected cases at the hands of the doctor over a short period that does not exceed few weeks

22

The term of spinsterhood that is confined to girls

4:50

The customary meaning of spinsterhood, carries abusive and hurtful connotations for this category of girls, and excludes those unmarried men, who are also in the same situation

23

Divorcees and social suffering

5:41

The divorced woman is oppressed in our society, Even if she was treated in fairness from the judiciary, and received her full rights, many obstacles remain between her and the transformation of these rights, foremost of which is: the right to custody of children. It increases with the position of the woman’s parents by refusing moving the children and their mother to the family's house, after the judgment of divorce; in this act, they punish their daughter on her divorce, a divorce that sometimes, is the only solution to her miserable married life. And, above all, contribute to the community outside the family, in an absolute abuse, by being labeled the ugliest descriptions, accused of abandoning her children for her freedom

24

Woman in popular heritage(Folklore)

5:56

Unfortunately, most of our Palestinian proverbs disparage the woman and consider her as a source of evil. In doing so; they contribute unequivocally in the consolidation of the negative perception towards women, even by women themselves, who contributed largely, in the formulation of many negative proverbs towards women of their gender.

Broadcast of “Cup of tea” Pat 2:

The MDC followed up with the 14 radio stations to keep up with their broadcasting schedule of “Cup of Tea” radio program, Part 2, following is the second phase of broadcasting:

No.

Name of station

Date of first broadcast

Day

Hour

Notes

1.

Radio Al- Balad/Jenin

1/8/2013

Saturday-Monday-Wednesday

1:00 pm

-

2.

Radio Bethlehem 2000

25/4-4/10/2013

Friday

11:00 am

-

3.

Radio- Tareeq Al- Mahabba/ Nablus

1/8/2013

Thursday

12:00 pm

-

4.

Radio- Sawt Falistin

-

-

-

Was not aired and was postponed to the upcoming programmatic cycle during 2014, which was confirmed via e-mail

5.

Radio -Kul Al-Nas/ Tulkarem

8/2013

Daily

8:00 am,

4:00 pm (rerun)

-

6.

Radio-Al Marah-Hebron

7/2013

Daily for a month

8:00 am

-

7.

Radio- Al Horiyya-Hebron

8/2013

Daily for a month

9:30 am

-

8.

Sawt al najah –Radio -nablus

-

-

-

Was not aired and was postponed to the upcoming programmatic cycle during 2014